Two Challis men were indicted Feb. 27 by a federal grand jury for multiple alleged offenses related to guided commercial big game hunts.
Jerrod Farr, 52, faces five charges and Michael Scott, 67, faces two charges, all filed by Justin Paskett with the Idaho U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Farr is charged with two counts of violating the federal Lacey Act, which combats trafficking in illegally taken wildlife. Paid guides and outfitters are deemed to be selling wildlife under the act. He’s also charged with two counts of providing false information to a Forest Service officer and one count of working without special use authorization. The charges carry possible prison sentences of up to five years and fines as high as $250,000, if he’s convicted.
Scott was charged with two counts of violating the Lacey Act. If convicted he could be sentenced to prison for up to five years and fined up to $250,000.
Scott and Farr are scheduled to make their initial appearances and be arraigned on March 21 in Pocatello. Farr’s attorney is Daniel Bower and Scott is represented by John DeFranco.
According to the indictment filed by Paskett, Farr owns White Cloud Outfitters, which he purchased from Scott in 2019. Scott works as a guide for the outfitting business. White Cloud Outfitters is licensed and permitted to provide commercial outfitting and guiding services on specific federal lands.
Both Scott and Farr have previously sought permission to guide hunters into management area 19 near Challis in the Salmon-Challis Forest, where commercial hunting guides are not allowed to take clients. Their requests were denied by the Forest Service. That area is open for private individuals to hunt, the indictment points out.
According to the indictment, Farr applied for a permit for a client to hunt bighorn sheep in the Salmon-Challis Forest on Oct. 1, 2020. The application was filed with the Forest Service and the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Licensing Board. The application pointed out that the hunt would not occur in area 19. But, the indictment claims, on Oct. 2, 2020, Scott took that client “into the approximate center” of area 19 and the hunter shot and killed a bighorn sheep. The hunter paid Farr’s business $10,500 for the trip.
On Oct. 5, 2020, according to the indictment, Jenni Farr talked to an employee at the Idaho Outfitters and Guides Licensing Board and said White Cloud Outfitters would not need its Oct. 1, 2020, request approved because the hunter had killed a bighorn sheep in an area where White Cloud Outfitters was permitted to guide hunters.
On Jan. 28, 2021, Jerrod Farr submitted required “actual use” records to the Forest Service for the 2020 outfitting season, the indictment states. The Oct. 2, 2020, bighorn sheep was omitted from the report, the indictment states.
On Sept. 28 and 29, 2021, Scott was interviewed by an Idaho Fish and Game Department investigator about area 19 and Scott and the Fish and Game investigator went to the sites where White Cloud Outfitters had taken hunters who killed bighorn sheep on outings in 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2022. Fish and Game personnel confirmed all four kills had occurred in area 19, the indictment states. Scott, on Oct. 6, 2022, told an investigator from Fish and Game that all four kill sites were in area 19, according to the indictment.
Another allegation about an illegal guided hunt relates to a mountain lion hunt on Feb. 26, 2022.
According to the indictment, Farr allegedly took a client who had bought the trip at a charity auction held by the Idaho Wild Sheep Foundation, to area 19, where guided hunt activity is not permitted. The hunter killed a mountain lion on Bureau of Land Management land, about 250 yards from the area 19 boundary, the indictment states.
Hound dogs used in the hunt wore collars fitted with GPS devices. Data from those collars showed that Farr had taken the hunter and the dogs into area 19. White Cloud Outfitters did not have a permit “to be doing any guided hunt related activity within” area 19, the indictment states.
When Farr submitted his 2022 outfitting season reports to the Forest Service on Jan. 10, 2023, the Feb. 26, 2022, mountain lion hunt was omitted from the report, the indictment states. The hunt also wasn’t listed in the Jan. 15, 2023, report Farr filed with the BLM.
Another hunt for a bighorn sheep allegedly occurred in area 19, court documents state.
According to the indictment, in August and September 2022, a client paid White Cloud Outfitters $10,500 for a guided bighorn sheep hunt. The indictment alleges that Scott led that client on land within area 19 on Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, 2022. That trip came 11 days after Scott and Farr exchanged text messages via a Garmin device about five bighorn sheep rams that Scott saw in Leaton Gulch, which is mostly within area 19, the affidavit states. The messages contained location links that showed Scott was south of Grouse Peak, in the center of area 19.
A Forest Service special-use permit administrator reminded Farr on Aug. 29, 2022, that his business wasn’t allowed to guide hunters within area 19. Farr acknowledged that restriction on Sept. 4, 2022, and again asked to discuss changing that rule.
On Aug. 31, 2022, Scott reportedly sent text messages to Farr that the client had missed a bighorn sheep he shot at. The messages had links that showed Scott and the hunter were west of Gerry Gulch, within area 19, the indictment states.
Scott and the client returned to the “general area of Gerry Gulch” in area 19 on Sept. 1, 2022, according to the indictment. Later that day, the client shot and killed a bighorn sheep within area 19, the indictment states. The client confirmed that location in an interview with personnel from Fish and Game and the Forest Service.
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